Original Date Announced

ICE issues guidance to OPLA attorneys implementing Executive Order 13768 on interior enforcement. The guidance revises enforcement priorities, directs the Office of Chief Counsel to review all previously administratively closed cases, states that prosecutorial discretion is not to be exercised in favor of leniency (except for members of the military and their family members), and announces a general policy of opposing motions to reopen. [ID #270]

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2021.08.19 Texas v. US preliminary injunction decision

On August 19, 2021, Judge Drew B. Tipton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Victoria Division, enjoined the Biden administration's Jan. 20, 2021, and Feb. 18, 2021, guidance on enforcement priorities. Texas v. U.S., No. 6:21-cv-00016 (S.D. Texas, Aug. 19, 2021).

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2021.09.15 Texas v. US 5th Circuit Stay Order

On September 15, 2021, a panel of the Fifth Circuit issued an order granting in part the government's request for a stay of Judge Tipton's order enjoining the Biden administration's Jan. 20 and Feb. 18 enforcement priority memos. The memos can go into effect, except to the extent that the government seeks to rely on them to decline to detain noncitizens who are subject to mandatory detention (individuals "described in 1226(c)(1) against whom detainers have been lodged or aliens who fall under section 1231(a)(1)(A) because they have been ordered removed"). The court stayed the remainder of Judge Tipton's injunction until the merits appeal.

On November 30, 2021, the en banc Fifth Circuit vacated the panel's stay and assigned the merits appeal to a future panel. (Texas v. U.S., Case No. 21-40618 (Nov. 30, 2021)).

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2022.03.22 Arizona v. Biden, Case No. 3:21-cv-314, Order Granting Preliminary Injunction

On March 22, 2022, the Southern District of Ohio issued a preliminary injunction in Arizona v. Biden partially enjoining the Biden administration's September 30, 2021, Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law. The decision restrains DHS from taking the following three actions pursuant to the guidance:

"a. Enforcing and implementing Section II of the Permanent Guidance (entitled “Civil Immigration Priorities”) to make, determine, or adjudicate noncitizen custody decisions pending removal proceedings contrary to 8 U.S.C. § 1226(c)(1);
b. Enforcing and implementing Section II of the Permanent Guidance to authorize the release of, whether on bond, supervision, or otherwise, a noncitizen with a final order of removal during the removal period in violation of 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(2); and
c. Enforcing and implementing Section II of the Permanent Guidance to delay, continue, or stay the execution of a noncitizen’s final order of removal to the extent that no other provision in 8 U.S.C. § 1231, or any other provision of the U.S. Code, justifies the noncitizen’s continued presence in the United States beyond the period set forth in 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)."

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2022.04.12 Arizona v. Biden, No. 22-3272, On Motion for Stay (6th Cir., April 12, 2022).

On April 12, 2022, the Sixth Circuit issued a stay of the District Court's nationwide injunction regarding DHS's September 30, 2021 Enforcement Guidelines. On the merits, oral argument took place on June 10, 2022. See https://www.courthousenews.com/biden-administration-defends-immigration-policy-before-sixth-circuit/.

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2022.06.10 Texas v. US opinion

On June 10, 2022, Judge Tipton of the Northern District of Texas vacated, in their entirety, the Biden administration's September 30, 2021 Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law. The court held that "the Final Memorandum [was] . . . arbitrary and capricious, contrary to law, and fail[ed] to observe procedure under the Administrative Procedure Act."

The court stayed the vacatur for seven days, later extended for another week, during which the administration requested a stay from the Fifth Circuit. No ruling was forthcoming in that timeframe, however, so on June 24, 2022, the district court's order went into effect.

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2022.07.06_Arizona v. Biden (6th Cir. 2022)

On July 6, 2022, the Sixth Circuit vacated the Southern District of Ohio's Arizona v. Biden injunction, which had partially enjoined the Biden administration's September 30, 2021, Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law.

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2022.07.06 Texas v. United States (5th Cir. 2022)

On July 6, 2022, the Fifth Circuit reviewed the district court's vacatur of the Biden administration's September 30, 2021, Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law, and denied DHS's motion for a stay of the order pending appeal. The court found "no reversible error of fact or law, nor any abuse of discretion" in the district court's opinion that would justify a stay.

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

Denial of Stay, US v. Texas, SCOTUS 2022

On July 21, 2022, the Supreme Court denied DHS's emergency application to stay the district court's vacatur of the Biden administration's September 30, 2021, Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law. The Court also granted certiorari.

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**

Subsequent Trump and Court Action

2023.06.23 - United States v. Texas (U.S. 2023)

On June 23, 2023, the Supreme Court held that Texas and Louisiana lack Article III standing to challenge the Biden administration's September 30, 2021, Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law. The Court found that the alleged additional costs incurred by the States due to the challenged arrest policy did not comprise a "legally and judicially cognizable" injury “traditionally thought to be capable of resolution through the judicial process.” Raines v. Byrd, 521 U. S. 811, 819 (1997). The Court also recognized that federal courts are generally not the proper forum for resolving claims implicating the Executive Branch’s enforcement discretion over arrests and prosecutions, but noted that federal courts could properly adjudicate such cases under different circumstances.

The Biden administration's Guidelines for the Enforcement of Civil Immigration Law were reinstituted following the judgment are therefore in effect. The portions of the 2022 ICE PLA Kerry Doyle memo that relied upon the previously vacated Guidelines and were therefore not in effect should once again take effect pursuant to the Supreme Court ruling.

**Litigation is listed for informational purposes and is not comprehensive. For the current status of legal challenges, check other sources.**